Changing Mentalities

Why contemporary population is looking for the American lifestyle?

In order to answer the question from the topic, first we should clear some things, like: what is the American lifestyle, its origins, what implies, what kind of people are attracted to it, is it just a new trend or its something more than that. In the next few pages, I will try to answer to some, if not to all of these questions. First, lets see where does American culture come from, what it is based on. United States of America is a diverse country, ethnically and racially speaking. It has a Western culture, influenced by the European ones. Its diversity comes as a result of the large scale immigration from many countries.

As we can see in the image, indeed, the population of the USA is very diverse, with diverse influences upon its culture. In order to go further, we need to find out exactly what does the word culture mean. According to Cambridge Dictionary, it means the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time. But our goal is to find out why are people more and more attracted to the American lifestyle. With the help of Cambridge Dictionary, I found out that lifestyle is someone's way of living; the things that a person or particular group of people usually do. By analyzing the two definitions, we can conclude that these two terms are related to each other. So

lifestyle and culture are close terms, and both refer to the way of living of a group of people, in our case, the Americans. The Americans are often referred to as a melting pot, as a result of its different cultures that are mixed there. Food is an important part of a culture. Concerning the food, the Americans enjoy mostly processed, convenience, and fast foods. The preference for packaged and processed foods is culturally rooted. Americans as a whole enjoy the taste of hamburgers, hot dogs, and junk foods. Processed foods generally are perceived to be cleaner or safer than unprocessed foods. But this preference of the packaged food is related to a well-known phrase for the Americans: time is money. So they dont waste time on preparing food, they use that time for other purposes. But this kind of eating, and fastfood have quickly spread all over the world. Restaurants like McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Burger King gain more and more space in the European food market.

TOP Fast Food Chains in Europe

Turnover 2007 in million
Rank Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 McDonalds Yum! Burger King Autogrill Quick Greggs Telepizza Le Duff Starbucks Nordsee Brand Banner McDonalds KFC, Pizza Hut Burger King Autogrill, BK, a.o. Quick Telepizza Brioche Doree Starbucks Nordsee 1,700e 900 800e 455 350e 305 280e 255* 210e 125 Turnover Outlets Countries 5660 6400 1880 1,800e 900e 400 1368 820 440 743 360 302 550* 1050 188 17 12 3 2 16 4 7 4 4 2 14 3 40

Greggs, Bakers Oven 860

Groupe Holder Paul, Laduree The Eat Out Bocatta, Pans a,o. Group Subway Domino's Subway Domino's Pizza

By seeing this chart and not only, we can say that this kind of food is one reason for which people are attracted to the American way of living. It is easier to go to a restaurant like this and have dinner, instead of cooking for two hours. More and more people agree so, and theirs financial numbers are proving it. Another important reason why people are looking up to the American lifestyle, is the freedom that USA promises. The freedom of speech, of choosing your religion, of expressing your political opinions, of choosing your partner, regardless of its gender, are just a brief list of the liberties that

America has to offer. But I think that there is one act of freedom that is very controversial: same-sex marriage. If around the world, there are only a few countries that allow same-sex marriage, like Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Norway, South-Africa, in America is gaining more and more ground. It is allowed in six states, but a number of other states recognize it in different forms, as it is shown in the map below.

Laws regarding same-sex partnership in the United States Same-sex marriage Unions granting rights similar to marriage Legislation granting limited/enumerated rights Same-sex marriages performed elsewhere recognized No specific prohibition or recognition of same-sex marriages or unions Statute bans same-sex marriage Constitution bans same-sex marriage Constitution bans same-sex marriage and other kinds of same-sex unions

But people are really attracted to the American lifestyle because of its tasty junk-food and the same-sex marriage? Maybe. There are other things that attract people to this particular culture. We often heard the famous phrase American Dream. It is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence all men are created equal and are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." But how is this American Dream realized? by means of money, of properties, carrier, by having a happy family? In the traditional American society, American Dream was about hard work, and through it obtaining a secure, wealthy and happy life. But people thought like that centuries ago, now the American Dream is perceived very different. Now it is seen like an instant wealth for most of the people. Not necessarily wealth as money, but obtaining something without hard work. Some people think that just going to the United States will provide a better life. But its not like that, even there you have to work hard to obtain what you want: a promotion, a better house, a new car, better education for your children. To conclude, I think that there are two categories of people: those who are looking up to the American lifestyle and go there in the hope of a better life, but get deceived because they thought it is going to be easy, and there it is all just like in the American movies; and those who go in the pursuit of the American Dream, but they are aware that they need to work hard in order to achieve everything they had in mind. In my opinion, people should give their interest to find out what it is really happening there, because the American lifestyle its not all about the nice movies, the good food from McDonalds, KFC or Burger King, or the story with all the freedom they get.